Geothermal conduits placed in ground-require the driving of a hollow steel pipe into the ground and inserting a conduit loop into the steel pipe. A conductive filler material such as silica sand or grout is then inserted into the pipe to fill the empty space and provide conductivity to conduct heat from the ground and transfer it to the fluid circulated in the conduit loop or vice-versa. These systems are expensive to install and require different crews. They are also not efficient in thermal exchange.
In my co-pending application Ser. No. 12/320,754 entitled “System and method for geothermal conduit loop in-ground installation and soil penetrating head therefor” and my co-pending application Ser. No. 12/497,560 entitled “Soil penetrating plate assembly to position geothermal conduit loops in soil”, I describe means to position a geothermal conduit loop into the ground with the means being retractable and reusable. In my first application a force transmitting shaft is driven into the ground by a percussion drill or other impacting apparatus and in some applications the head which holds the conduit loop remains in the ground with the shaft being retracted therefrom. In my second application, I describe a soil penetrating plate assembly provided with conduit loop attaching means which greatly facilitate the installation of the conduit loop into the soil and which permits easy retrieval of the soil penetrating plate and shaft, a system which is inexpensive.